a blend of yoga styles for all levels

Relationships

04.04.17

Happy April!

I hope your month is off to a great start. I am currently typing this at 30,000 feet and am thinking about the practice of yoga as I always do when writing these newsletters 🙂

A teacher once told me that the best indicator of whether or not your yoga is working is to take a look at your relationships. If your relationships are getting better, clearer and more refined, then you can trust that your yoga is working.

I will say, however, when I first started yoga over 22 years ago, my relationships got much worse before they got better. And I am talking relationships of all sorts; to people, food, alcohol, fear, anxiety, nicotine, sex. I had some really toxic relationships in my life however, I deeply felt the little glimpses of clarity I would gain from an hour and a half yoga practice which kept me coming back. I would walk out of that little Nashville yoga studio determined to make different choices in my relationships that day. Then, I would ‘fail’ by falling right back to where I was before the class, sometimes even worse.

But I believed in the practice, so I keep at it. I found myself getting stronger, more confident, more accepting. I would make my vow for a better day again and I would slip…again. Years of this cycle that I thought I would never break. But I didn’t give up.

This is the key with practice. We don’t just stop doing it because we have a bad day or because we fall back into an old pattern. When we fall, we get back up, dust ourselves off and try again. It takes time to create sustainable change.

The key is better not best. If your relationship to your body is a little bit better after you practice, consider it a success. If you are a little more kind to your partner, success. If you are more honest at work, success. If you are able to focus your mind for a minute longer, success. There is no place to get. There is only progress on the path and no progress on the yoga path is ever lost.

So, regardless if you started practicing yesterday or if you have been at it for 30 years…are your relationships getting better? If so, then keep up the good work because our world could definitely use better relationships!

We have so many great things coming up to support you in creating healthier relationships in all areas of your life so please check it all out here.

I am in town this week and some of next so I hope to see you around the studio! I will also be back next month teaching a movement, mindfulness and music workshop with my dear friend Ben Caron that I am really excited about. I’d love to see you there! See more info here.